Valeria Torres and the Midas Vault

Chapter 13: The Upside of Anger

The next day at school went terribly slow. Valeria tried her best to pay attention in history class, but felt her mind racing with so many different thoughts. She found it difficult to focus, knowing so many people needed help.

Deciding to skip her third period class, Valeria pretended she was sick and made for the library. She walked inside and sat down at one of the computer workstations. Google proved a good way to find information about the Grove shelters, as it linked her to a website with a list of locations around the world. As she sieved through the information about the shelters, she didn't find any trails that suggested these institutions were actually backed by the Rogue faction, as the website simply listed numerous charities and sponsors.

"Hey V," Sai said as he took a seat at the computer station next to hers. "James texted that you were sick.You feeling better?"

"I was lying so I could skip class."

"Didn't want to take the history test, huh? You should be careful," Sai replied, a frown forming across his face. "You could get detention."

Valeria rolled her eyes. "Uh oh, that sounds really dangerous."

"You really are a rebel, V," Sai replied with a nervous laugh. "So let me guess – are you just checking your social media to pass the time?" He leaned over to inspect her screen, but she minimized it in time.

"What I do with my spare time is none of your business," Valeria countered. "And no, I don't use social media."

Sai offered a curious look. "You mean to tell me – you don't use Facebook, Twitter, or Snapchat?"

"No," Valeria replied while shaking her head. "Why are you here instead of class?"

"I have a free period right now, so I came here to work on my SAT prep."

"What's that?" Valeria asked.

Sai simply blinked at her with disbelief. "You don't know what the SAT is?"

Valeria felt an odd combination of embarrassment and disinterest. While she knew that high school students had to prepare for college, she wasn't aware of all the intricate details. She didn't really care about any of it of course, but she also didn't want Sai to think less of her. It was strange - she had never really cared what other people thought about her until she met Sai.

"I'm sorry I don't know about that. I'm mainly just trying to fit in," Valeria said truthfully, before quickly adding, "I'm an exchange student, remember?"

"I guess that's true. Well, the SAT is what colleges use for admissions. So let me get this straight; you don't care about social media...you don't care about skipping class...and you're not worried about preparing for college?"

"Nope, not at all."

Sai looked over at her with surprise. "Wow, you really are unlike any girl I've ever met. What do you worry about?"

Valeria sighed. She was worried about social and economic disparity in this country, she decided now was not a good time to get into that. "I try not to worry about little things anymore," she said. "I used to have bigger things to worry about."

Sai scoffed as he said, "Bigger things to worry about? Like what?"

Frowning, she said, "you wouldn't understand," before turning back toward her computer.

"Try me," he said, his head cocked to the side. "What could be worse than stressing about getting into college?"

Valeria turned toward him. Any sense of reservation evaporated as her frustration clouded her judgement. "Oh I don't know," she said, her voice quivering, "maybe worrying about starving to death? Freezing to death? Worried about getting killed or assaulted by gangs? Maybe being afraid of a girl's detention center where girls are constantly harassed by male guards? You know...little things like that."